Monday, September 30, 2013

What is it with the urinating cherubs? That was a popular motif back then. You often see that motif in fountains. One time I was in Zurich goofing with the kids while the adults walked ahead of us. There was a statue of a urinating cherub about ten feet up. I shot a spit-ball and hit him right on the pico. That was huge. Pee-pee/cacapranks are huge with the under-ten set. So that was another highlight of my life. I've had some successes in life. I need to remember this stuff when I feel I have led a life only of utter dissipation.

In an article from Reuters it is reported that the People's Liberation Internet Police are once again cracking down, this time on mobile phone apps that can deliver foreign news to Chinese. PLIP says these news apps can "harm the physical and mental health of youngsters." Harm "physical and mental health?" Even by PLIP standards that seems an extravagant charge but the article then goes on to say that that includes banned articles from "such as the New York Times" so PLIP has a point there. Among other sites blocked in the PRC is this one http://publicoccurrenc.blogspot.com/ which the undersigned has personally inspected and found also to be injurious. Potentially.

And Amazon's first item in its "Product Cloud Widget" is "EasyAcc 12000mAh Ext..." which indeed I have not read if that's what you do with that. However, fifth on Amazon's list is "Learning to Curse," which I have read.

Sunday, September 29, 2013

The advertisements that Google puts on Ye Olde Blog are personalized for each pageviewer's interests and needs as revealed by your recent purchase history and web searches which Google gives to NSA to make nifty graphs for them. Thus the most prominent contextual ad for moi at this particular moment in the rent fabric of space-time is for "barndoorshardware.com" as I am very handy with hardware, own tons of barn doors and there's only so many absinthe vendors out there. Apparently.

Islam is having another productive weekend doing what it does best, slaughtering innocent, defenseless people. Today in Nigeria members of the group "Bomo Haram," (which if memory serves had a hit pop single in the West called "A Whiter Shade of Pale") murdered...lots (the numbers vary as they did last week in Kenya with the low being about 40) of students as they lay sleeping in their college dorm rooms. Nice, huh?

"N.S.A. Gathers Data on Social Connections of U.S. Citizens."-The New York Times.Since 2010, the National Security Agency has been exploiting its huge collections of data to create sophisticated graphs of some Americans’ social connections that can identify their associates, their locations at certain times, their traveling companions and other personal information, according to newly disclosed documents and interviews with officials.The spy agency began allowing the analysis of phone call and e-mail logs in November 2010 to examine Americans’ networks of associations for foreign intelligence purposes after N.S.A. officials lifted restrictions on the practice, according to documents provided by Edward J. Snowden, the former N.S.A. contractor....The agency can augment the communications data with material from public, commercial and other sources, including bank codes, insurance information, Facebook profiles, passenger manifests, voter registration rolls and GPS location information, as well as property records and unspecified tax data, according to the documents. They do not indicate any restrictions on the use of such “enrichment” data, and several former senior Obama administration officials said the agency drew on it for both Americans and foreigners....Almost everything about the [NSA's] operations is hidden, and the decision to revise the limits concerning Americans was made in secret, without review by the nation’s intelligence court or any public debate....The agency is not required to seek warrants for the analyses from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court....A series of agency PowerPoint presentations and memos describe how the N.S.A. has been able to develop software and other tools — one document cited a new generation of programs that “revolutionize” data collection and analysis — to unlock as many secrets about individuals as possible....Phone and e-mail logs, for example, allow analysts to identify people’s friends and associates, detect where they were at a certain time, acquire clues to religious or political affiliations, and pick up sensitive information like regular calls to a psychiatrist’s office, late-night messages to an extramarital partner or exchanges with a fellow plotter.

“Metadata can be very revealing,” said Orin S. Kerr, a law professor at George Washington University. “Knowing things like the number someone just dialed or the location of the person’s cellphone is going to allow them to assemble a picture of what someone is up to. It’s the digital equivalent of tailing a suspect.”

...

The N.S.A. documents show that one of the main tools used for chaining phone numbers and e-mail addresses has the code name Mainway...The documents show that significant amounts of information from the United States go into Mainway. An internal N.S.A. bulletin, for example, noted that in 2011 Mainway was taking in 700 million phone records per day.

Friday, September 27, 2013

I just got this book today, just opened the package a few minutes ago. When I pre-ordered it some months back I wrote here that I laughed out loud when I saw the title. Professor Dikotter pullsnopunches. This is the first work of serious scholarship that has ever taken on the very founding mythology of the People's Republic, which others cling to as the drowning clutch at reeds. Long-time readers will recall the series "Red Legacy in China" here, a month-long daily counterpoint to the seminar of the same name at Harvard a few years ago. Professor Elizabeth J. Perry, one of the organizers of "Red Legacy" was intent on "reclaiming the Chinese revolution," that is the ideals of the founding mythology. This is what Dikotter says about the legacy in the opening two sentences of his preface:

"The Chinese Communist Party refers to its victory in 1949 as a 'liberation.' The term brings to mind jubilant crowds taking to the streets to celebrate their newly won freedom, but in China the story of liberation and the revolution that followed is not one of peace, liberty and justice. It is first and foremost a history of calculated terror and systematic violence."That is the red legacy in China. Frank Dikotter is an intrepid, meticulous scholar and "Liberation" is a shot into the boiler room of Perry's reclamation vessel.

CNIL, the French data protection agency, said in June that Google could face about $200,000 in fines if it did not alter its latest privacy policy by September to clarify how it collects and uses data. That action was based on a year-long investigation by CNIL on behalf of a consortium of European data protection officials after Google changed its policy in March 2012.

...

CNIL said in a statement that while Google did not change its policy, the company did respond to the threat of enforcement action by contesting “the applicability of French data protection law to the services used by residents in France.”

The NERVE of the French, huh Google? Wanting French law to apply to the French. Bastards.

Oh my God, that is the most awesome terrorist name ever!!! I want to be a white widow. There was the Brown Bomber, now the White Widow. What would be alliterative with gray? The Gray Gr...? The Silver S...? C'mon man, little help here. Leave it to the British press, they can write a headline.

That is the title of Simon Curtis' article after the recent Manchester Derby. Sir Alex Ferguson is gone as is Roberto Mancini. Maybe more is gone. Here's what Mr. Curtis says:This, ladies and gentlemen, was a full-blown rout, more decisive, clearer even in its definition between winner and loser than the unforgettable 6-1 win at Old Trafford two seasons ago. ...The signs were there at the Etihad, where the reigning Premier League Champions were defused and dismantled in under an hour, that it is to the blue half of Manchester we should start to look for clues to the season's unraveling. The power shift that began in the 6-1 and continued with the league title win two years ago, took another heavy lurch to starboard here.

September 25, 1690. The first newspaper in North America was born. Still-born. Publick Occurrences Both Forreign and Domestick lasted one day. :) It would have been 323 years old today. I don't feel that old. This digital usurper was started in 2002. I do feel 11 years older. When will this end? I don't know. I get tired of the writing sometimes. Writing has always used up some energy. I used to write only long stuff that would take me a half-day to a day. I then wouldn't write for a time. Then a few years ago I began writing short stuff that didn't use up much energy and didn't take up so much time. I began writing daily. It's guerrilla writing. I don't know if I could do 12 hours of straight writing now. I didn't do that often, but I did do it. One weekend day at Carmen's house, just a couple of years ago, I remember the post, I sat at her dining room table from 8 to 8 or 9 to 9. At the end my frigging back hurt and my head felt like it had nothing but cotton in it. I was consumed that day. I can remember feeling the fire in my gut. Maybe I could do it if I got consumed by a subject again. I don't know though. I wrote something recently, in the last week. I remember it took me a couple of hours one morning. Satisfied with it, I posted it, forgot about it, went back to work and a few hours later I thought, "Why are you dragging today, man?" Had some coffee or whatever, would have eaten lunch, then was still dragging in the afternoon. The writing just took it out of me.

It's obsessive-compulsive but I enjoy it. I enjoy the guerrilla writing and I enjoy the long stuff. I have something like "a body of work" built up in the last 11 years. I've written about my life here, my son and daughter, my wives and girlfriends, death. Life. There's a bit of a record, if nothing else, of some of what I have been doing, thinking, what I have been interested in in the last 11 years. But it's PublicOccurrences that are written about here, not, for the most part, private occurrences; this has not been a diary or a reality show. It's mostly been about Big Stuff. Stuff going on in the world. So, there is something else, there's not "nothing else" besides one guy's life going on here. Some other people enjoy this too, there are some readers. Sometimes I write something that I just know, (in the way you can know without really knowing) is going to make some people laugh or at least smile. I really know virtually no one who reads what I write. The members of the blog, I have met two of them, have exchanged just a couple of emails with two others. That's it! But I know the others and I know some of the 160 or so who stop by here daily. Sometimes I feel there's almost a mind-meld going on. I know something might tickle you or I think my outrages may provoke you to outrage or thought or just tickle you more at what sets me off. Something. There's something else. There is interaction albeit with a small, smallsmallsmall part of the world here, and it's about the world. And there are connections, personal connections. You really know me though through Public Occurrences and some of you keep coming back. And that is frigging great. I love you guys! Boo-hoo-hoo. Arright, enough of this sentimental stuff. Back to guerrilla attacks.

I finished that post at 11:48 pm on Sunday, Sept. 23 and it took about two hours.

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Kenya, you got to pick it up a little, man. That's a ridiculous headline, do you see that? Sieges at malls don't last four days. They just don't. One day at most for mall sieges. That's it! Arright, get outta here.

"Don't cry for me..."
Wrong Latin country. I bet they don't get along.

Is there no good Brazilian song to sing to Dilma? What are some Brazilian songs? Geez. Uh... "The Girl from Ipanema!" de de-de de de de de de de, de de de de de de de de de de. I hate that frigging song.

Wasn't there, what was the name of that band, "Sergio Mendez and Brazil 66?" That was it, there was such a band. It sounds like the name of a terrorist group. I can't remember anything they sung anyway. "Blame it on the bossa nova." Oh God, I hate that song too. Maybe I hate all Brazilian songs. Maybe I'd hate "Brazil 66" songs if I could remember any.

DILMA ROUSSEFF, President of Brazil, denounced the terrorist attack that had taken place in Nairobi, before drawing attention to the global network of electronic espionage, which, she said, had directly affected her country. She highlighted that citizens’ personal data, corporate information — often of high economic and even strategic value — and diplomatic information had been intercepted, as well as communications of the Office of the President. “Tampering in such a manner in the affairs of other countries is a breach of international law and an affront to the principles that must guide relations among them, especially among friendly nations,” she declared.

- See more at: http://gadebate.un.org/68/brazil#sthash.EPH98vLR.dpuf

The right to safety of citizens of one country, she said, could never be guaranteed by violating fundamental human rights of citizens of another. As many other Latin Americans, she had fought against authoritarianism and censorship, and she could not be defend the right to privacy — of individuals and the nation itself. In the absence of privacy, there could be no true freedom of expression and opinion, and therefore, no effective democracy. In the absence of respect for sovereignty, there was no basis for the relationship among nations. She demanded from the United States’ Government explanations, apologies and guarantees that such procedures would never be repeated. - See more at: http://gadebate.un.org/68/brazil#sthash.EPH98vLR.dpuf

In order to prevent cyberspace from being used as a weapon of war, she presented proposals for a civilian multilateral framework for the governance and use of the Internet, capable of ensuring such principles as freedom of expression, privacy of the individual and respect for human rights, as well as the construction of inclusive and non-discriminatory societies. - See more at: http://gadebate.un.org/68/brazil#sthash.EPH98vLR.dpuf

In America, the governing body of college tackle football announced today that it was giving Pennsylvania State University back some of the athletic scholarships it took as punishment for faulty shower room maintenance.

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Islam's death toll today:

-In Nairobi, Kenya 68 now.
-In enemy Pakistan, 81. Two Muslims blew themselves up outside of a 130-year old Christian church as worshippers were leaving services.

Christians and Christianity are under attack everywhere that Islam and Christianity coexist: In Kenya and Pakistan today, in Egypt ever since "Arab Spring" and, in America and Britain this year. Islam has bloody borders.

And where should the righteous worship when the Etihad is empty? If they're lucky in this stunning proposal for a cathedral in Strasbourg, France, also the seat of the European Parliament. New York architects Axis Mundi were invited in 2011 to submit a design for consideration. This was their magnificent entry. This is inspired design, breathtaking.

Strasbourg, France | Axis Mundi was invited to submit a proposal for a new cathedral for the city of Strasbourg, France. The design is composed of a series of unfolded arches which rest on a submerged “Latin Cross” floor plan. A bas-relief of an abstracted Gothic cathedral will emerge on the eastern facade when the sun rises, and will gradually disappear during the course of the day.

CONCEPTA series of unfolded (ogival) concrete arches were designed to create majestic volumes of light for the interior spaces. The design of the front façade consists of a bas-relief of a digitized abstraction of a Gothic cathedral. As the sun rises in the east, it will cast shadows on the facade, and the bas-relief will become visible. It will gradually disappear during the course of the day. The floor plan is an abstraction of a Gothic Cathedral, and is composed of a Latin cross (or cruciform) plan, with a long nave making the body of the church, a transverse arm called the transept and, beyond it, the choir, chancel or presbytery.

HIDDEN CROSSA “Latin Cross” plan is submerged, or sunken below the ground plane. The interior below grade is entirely clad in limestone slabs, and has been reduced to the barest minimum of decoration. The pulpit was inspired by the Giants Causeway in Northern Ireland, and is composed of a cluster of hexagonal shaped columns. A simple bronze cross rises from behind.

My goodness gracious what is going on in Kenya? Fifty-nine people have been murdered by gunmen who apparently have taken over a shopping mall--a shopping mall!--in Nairobi. What's going on? The answer is Islam: the gunmen are al-Shabab.

Heartfelt sympathies for the victims, their families and the people of Kenya.

What if Dilma Rousseff walked into the headquarters of Google.br, put up a "Under New Ownership" sign and announced that in the interests of Brazilian national sovereignty Google Brazil was being nationalized? One thing that would happen, Sergei Brin--and Barack Obama--would assume the positions of that gent in yesterday's painting. What if Angela Merkel did the same thing with Google.de?

There was a time when such things were done! There was a time, before the earth was flat, before free trade agreements, when a nationalist revolution meant that the utilities and key industries of a country were simply expropriated from their foreign owners, nationalized. Nasser did it to the Suez Canal, Castro did it to the sugar industry, Allende did it to Kennecott Copper.

The United States government has used the world's trust to have the internet industry essentially headquartered in America. The US government then took advantage of that centralization to invade other countries by bugging their embassies--sovereign foreign territory--and intercepting the private communications of their leaders. It's not a violation of American law to bug foreigners, see? If Google and the other communications utilities were nationalized it would be a violation of the laws of those countries, Brazil, Germany, whomever.

President Rousseff has indicated she wants to break the grip of the US-centric internet. The European Union was deeply concerned--even before the revelations of NSA perfidy--over Google's power and privacy invasions. The EU is outraged now. A world less flat, a world with more hills to break up the run of the state's fiat, more (trade) barriers to multi-national corporations-that world would be less "US-centric." NSA spying would be hampered, Google would be restrained, the American economy, the engine of its worldwide influence, would take a hit. Here's to that world. Don't compromise, nationalize.

"binbin song" geochemistry. When I sayBinbin Song in my head it comes out like this: Song. Song. Binbin Binbin Like the part of Queen's song that precedes and succeeds "We will we will rock you." See?... Oh
God. The last entry on this list is:
"Joseph Conrad's Nostromo," March 15, 2005. I remember writing that post. I suppose I should remember it since I wrote it...ButthatwasalongtimeagoandI'moldandforget. Hey, look at the hour
it's gotten to be! Good night.

Saturday, September 21, 2013

These are some of the scores of today's games in American college tackle football:
76-0.
72-0.
77-7. In progress!
70-7.

In addition:
52-7. In progress.
59-3.
56-0.
57-6.

It is embarrassing. These are colleges. Institutions of higher learning. The players are 18-21 years old. And these results are not random. These games were planned, scheduled in advance, these results expected. Why would college presidents deliberately plan these hopeless games for their students to play? $$. The winners want an extra game on their campuses because 60,000-100,000 of their fanatics will buy the tickets for these nauseatingly predictable, one-sided "contests." And the losers presidents agree to send their students to get humiliated in these games because they are guaranteed a cut of the money the winners big crowds pay. It's the pursuit of happiness. The most important "American value" is this-here: $. That's the lesson these college presidents want to give their students. It's embarrassing.

Received the following email. Google, show this to NSA and tell them who it's from. NSA, fuck you.

Hi!

I am researching Bian Zhongyun and came across your wonderful blog (great name). Who are you and where did you get your information on the Cultural Revolution? Do you live in the States? I think your point about the ritualized aspect -- and needing an anthropological take on the CR -- is excellent.

"Today is the first day of the rest of your life."
"Everyday is beautiful in the eyes of the Lord."
"Have a nice day."
"This dreck is boring a hole in my head and tiny microorganisms are eating the gray matter of my brain."

Friday, September 20, 2013

After a brief pause, Pope Francis emphasizes the following point, in order to avoid misunderstandings: “And, of course, we must be very careful not to think that this infallibilitas of all the faithful I am talking about in the light of Vatican II is a form of populism. No; it is the experience of ‘holy mother the hierarchical church,’ as St. Ignatius called it, the church as the people of God, pastors and people together. The church is the totality of God’s people.

“I see the sanctity of God’s people, this daily sanctity,” the pope continues. “There is a ‘holy middle class,’ which we can all be part of, the holiness Malègue wrote about.” The pope is referring to Joseph Malègue, a French writer (1876–1940), particularly to the unfinished trilogy Black Stones: The Middle Classes of Salvation.

“I see the holiness,” the pope continues, “in the patience of the people of God: a woman who is raising children, a man who works to bring home the bread, the sick, the elderly priests who have so many wounds but have a smile on their faces because they served the Lord, the sisters who work hard and live a hidden sanctity. This is for me the common sanctity. I often associate sanctity with patience: not only patience as hypomoné[the New Testament Greek word], taking charge of the events and circumstances of life, but also as a constancy in going forward, day by day. This is the sanctity of the militant church also mentioned by St. Ignatius.

...

“This church with which we should be thinking is the home of all, not a small chapel that can hold only a small group of selected people. We must not reduce the bosom of the universal church to a nest protecting our mediocrity. And the church is Mother; the church is fruitful. It must be. You see, when I perceive negative behavior in ministers of the church or in consecrated men or women, the first thing that comes to mind is: ‘Here’s an unfruitful bachelor’ or ‘Here’s a spinster.’ They are neither fathers nor mothers, in the sense that they have not been able to give spiritual life. Instead, for example, when I read the life of the Salesian missionaries who went to Patagonia, I read a story of the fullness of life, of fruitfulness.

...

“I see clearly,” the pope continues, “that the thing the church needs most today is the ability to heal wounds and to warm the hearts of the faithful; it needs nearness, proximity. I see the church as a field hospital after battle. It is useless to ask a seriously injured person if he has high cholesterol and about the level of his blood sugars! You have to heal his wounds. Then we can talk about everything else. Heal the wounds, heal the wounds.... And you have to start from the ground up.

...

“The church sometimes has locked itself up in small things, in small-minded rules. The most important thing is the first proclamation: Jesus Christ has saved you. And the ministers of the church must be ministers of mercy above all. The confessor, for example, is always in danger of being either too much of a rigorist or too lax. Neither is merciful, because neither of them really takes responsibility for the person. The rigorist washes his hands so that he leaves it to the commandment. The loose minister washes his hands by simply saying, ‘This is not a sin’ or something like that. In pastoral ministry we must accompany people, and we must heal their wounds.

...

“How are we treating the people of God? I dream of a church that is a mother and shepherdess. The church’s ministers must be merciful, take responsibility for the people and accompany them like the good Samaritan, who washes, cleans and raises up his neighbor. This is pure Gospel. God is greater than sin. The structural and organizational reforms are secondary—that is, they come afterward. The first reform must be the attitude. The ministers of the Gospel must be people who can warm the hearts of the people, who walk through the dark night with them, who know how to dialogue and to descend themselves into their people’s night, into the darkness, but without getting lost. The people of God want pastors, not clergy acting like bureaucrats or government officials. The bishops, particularly, must be able to support the movements of God among their people with patience, so that no one is left behind. But they must also be able to accompany the flock that has a flair for finding new paths.

...

“Instead of being just a church that welcomes and receives by keeping the doors open, let us try also to be a church that finds new roads, that is able to step outside itself and go to those who do not attend Mass, to those who have quit or are indifferent. The ones who quit sometimes do it for reasons that, if properly understood and assessed, can lead to a return. But that takes audacity and courage.”

...

A person once asked me, in a provocative manner, if I approved of homosexuality. I replied with another question: ‘Tell me: when God looks at a gay person, does he endorse the existence of this person with love, or reject and condemn this person?’ We must always consider the person.

“A person once asked me, in a provocative manner, if I approved of homosexuality. I replied with another question: ‘Tell me: when God looks at a gay person, does he endorse the existence of this person with love, or reject and condemn this person?’ We must always consider the person. Here we enter into the mystery of the human being. In life, God accompanies persons, and we must accompany them, starting from their situation. It is necessary to accompany them with mercy. When that happens, the Holy Spirit inspires the priest to say the right thing.

...

“We cannot insist only on issues related to abortion, gay marriage and the use of contraceptive methods. This is not possible. I have not spoken much about these things, and I was reprimanded for that. But when we speak about these issues, we have to talk about them in a context. The teaching of the church, for that matter, is clear and I am a son of the church, but it is not necessary to talk about these issues all the time.

Three months ago, my platform of “prudence and hope” gained a broad, popular mandate. Iranians embraced my approach to domestic and international affairs because they saw it as long overdue. I’m committed to fulfilling my promises to my people, including my pledge to engage in constructive interaction with the world.The world has changed. International politics is no longer a zero-sum game but a multi-dimensional arena where cooperation and competition often occur simultaneously. Gone is the age of blood feuds. World leaders are expected to lead in turning threats into opportunities.The international community faces many challenges in this new world — terrorism, extremism, foreign military interference, drug trafficking, cybercrime and cultural encroachment — all within a framework that has emphasized hard power and the use of brute force.We must pay attention to the complexities of the issues at hand to solve them. Enter my definition of constructive engagement. In a world where global politics is no longer a zero-sum game, it is — or should be — counterintuitive to pursue one’s interests without considering the interests of others. A constructive approach to diplomacy doesn’t mean relinquishing one’s rights. It means engaging with one’s counterparts, on the basis of equal footing and mutual respect, to address shared concerns and achieve shared objectives. In other words, win-win outcomes are not just favorable but also achievable. A zero-sum, Cold War mentality leads to everyone’s loss.Sadly, unilateralism often continues to overshadow constructive approaches. Security is pursued at the expense of the insecurity of others, with disastrous consequences. More than a decade and two wars after 9/11, al-Qaeda and other militant extremists continue to wreak havoc. Syria, a jewel of civilization, has become the scene of heartbreaking violence, including chemical weapons attacks, which we strongly condemn. In Iraq, 10 years after the American-led invasion, dozens still lose their lives to violence every day. Afghanistan endures similar, endemic bloodshed.The unilateral approach, which glorifies brute force and breeds violence, is clearly incapable of solving issues we all face, such as terrorism and extremism. I say all because nobody is immune to extremist-fueled violence, even though it might rage thousands of miles away. Americans woke up to this reality 12 years ago.

My approach to foreign policy seeks to resolve these issues by addressing their underlying causes. We must work together to end the unhealthy rivalries and interferences that fuel violence and drive us apart. We must also pay attention to the issue of identity as a key driver of tension in, and beyond, the Middle East.

At their core, the vicious battles in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria are over the nature of those countries’ identities and their consequent roles in our region and the world. The centrality of identity extends to the case of our peaceful nuclear energy program. To us, mastering the atomic fuel cycle and generating nuclear power is as much about diversifying our energy resources as it is about who Iranians are as a nation, our demand for dignity and respect and our consequent place in the world. Without comprehending the role of identity, many issues we all face will remain unresolved.

I am committed to confronting our common challenges via a two-pronged approach.

First, we must join hands to constructively work toward national dialogue, whether in Syria or Bahrain. We must create an atmosphere where peoples of the region can decide their own fates. As part of this, I announce my government’s readiness to help facilitate dialogue between the Syrian government and the opposition.

Second, we must address the broader, overarching injustices and rivalries that fuel violence and tensions. A key aspect of my commitment to constructive interaction entails a sincere effort to engage with neighbors and other nations to identify and secure win-win solutions.

We and our international counterparts have spent a lot of time — perhaps too much time — discussing what we don’t want rather than what we do want. This is not unique to Iran’s international relations. In a climate where much of foreign policy is a direct function of domestic politics, focusing on what one doesn’t want is an easy way out of difficult conundrums for many world leaders. Expressing what one does want requires more courage.

After 10 years of back-and-forth, what all sides don’t want in relation to our nuclear file is clear. The same dynamic is evident in the rival approaches to Syria.

This approach can be useful for efforts to prevent cold conflicts from turning hot. But to move beyond impasses, whether in relation to Syria, my country’s nuclear program or its relations with the United States, we need to aim higher. Rather than focusing on how to prevent things from getting worse, we need to think — and talk — about how to make things better. To do that, we all need to muster the courage to start conveying what we want — clearly, concisely and sincerely — and to back it up with the political will to take necessary action. This is the essence of my approach to constructive interaction.

As I depart for New York for the opening of the U.N. General Assembly, I urge my counterparts to seize the opportunity presented by Iran’s recent election. I urge them to make the most of the mandate for prudent engagement that my people have given me and to respond genuinely to my government’s efforts to engage in constructive dialogue. Most of all, I urge them to look beyond the pines and be brave enough to tell me what they see — if not for their national interests, then for the sake of their legacies, and our children and future generations.

How can you tell if a Finn is introverted? When he speaks to you he looks at his shoes.
How can you tell if a Finn is extroverted? When he speaks to you he looks at your shoes.

Hmm. Professor Bailyn devotes a chapter of The Barbarous Years to the Finnish peopling of North America. Finland was part of Sweden into the 19th century, then ruled by Imperial Russia until 1917. Finns fought heroically in World War II against first the Soviets then the Nazis. I have not read the Kalevala but have long been aware of it. Five million total population as of 2012. Some good hockey players among them. Off that Finnish joke, they seem like a modest people. Off Sibelius' andante festivo they seem like a modest people. A beautiful piece, it sounds like a hymn, a little sad. It was intended to be celebratory, in commemoration of...a plywood factory. Go plywood! Fascinating people. Here's the link to the music.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VRw9N9OlPo

I just can't...In this interesting painting the artist John Maler Collier has constructed a tableau the focus of which is a gentleman of vacuous mien, perhapsnon compus mentis, recently lobotomized, in his dotage, drunk, poisoned or an opium user attended by four young women two of whom are draped over him, one offering him another drink, a third-a redhead-who is seated languidly, provocatively, also proposing more drink and a fourth-the poisoner?-in the background oblivious to her deteriorating victim while examining some wine by the light, debatable for the purpose, of some Chinese lanterns. The Garden of Armida.

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Just look at that. The Garden of Armida by John Maler Collier (1850-1934). That painting is so bad it's good, it produces laughter. The composition is so over-the-top, the characters so ridiculous...I look at that over and over again and I'm just...amazed. And amused. I can't look anymore. I think it causes brain damage. Please, don't look anymore.

A highly Abnormal 24-hours started about this time yesterday and ended at about 3:00 today. During which time there were over 500 pageviews whereas the average is 160 or so. Of which over 400 were from the US and the country with the second-most, Russia, had...11. Whereas the US averages 50% of total pageviews. Of the ~500 pageviews about 190 were on "Citizenship" and 140 on "The Chinese Cultural Revolution." Third was "Remembrance. Song Binbin" with 12. No "traffic sources" reported by Google account for any of this. Also Abnormal was the absence of any goddamned mermaids.

"Brazil Hackers Mistake NASA for NSA in Spying Payback."-Agence France-Presse.
He-he-he, we mistook NASA for NSA. We missed the other "A," he-he...Are you fucking stupid! You mistook the space agency for the spook agency???

Brazil, you can't tell your NASA from a hole in the ground, there is little-No, there is NO-chance you will ever get your act together enough to make today's announcement more than a symbolic gesture.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has canceled a planned state visit to America in response to NSA's bugging of her personal communications and spying on Brazilian companies.

America is a rogue state. This action by Brazil is how respectable nations treat rogue states.

“It throws a bucket of cold water on the bilateral trade relationship. It jeopardizes numerous commercial interests, especially private sector investment in sensitive sectors that require good political cooperation.”-Some expert quoted by Bloomberg.

And that is how America can be brought down. The preeminent value of Americans is the dollar. "It's the economy, stupid," say American politicians. And it is. Anything that hurts the American economy hurts American power. Pierce that flimsy armor and the knight can be brought to his knees.

Brazil plans to divorce itself from the U.S.-centric Internet over Washington's widespread online spying, a move that many experts fear will be a potentially dangerous first step toward fracturing a global network built with minimal interference by governments.

"Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hall-el-ju-ju-ju-ju-ah!" The world needs to be less US-centric. Look at the words used by the "experts:" "fear," "dangerous." And what do they fear? "Minimal interference by governments." Ha!

There has been another mass murder in America. Some guy, a "civilian contractor," opened fire this morning at the "Navy Yard" near Washington, D.C. and killed eleven people. The police killed him. Two other suspects, one who police say was a second gunman, are on the loose.

Sunday, September 15, 2013

The Unites States-Russia agreement to provide a “framework” for the inspection, removal and eventual destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons proves diplomacy is not a spent force in international politics: it has been creatively deployed in this case to not only stave off potentially disastrous military intervention, but also break new ground in troubleshooting the Syrian crisis politically...These remarkable developments, which come barely a week after a West-led attack on Syria seemed all but inevitable, represent a stunning victory for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who urged the U.S. via an op-ed in the New York Times to “stop using the language of force and return to the path of [...] diplomatic settlement.” His attempt marks one of the most politically savvy gestures by a head of state to reach across the aisle to a foreign audience in recent years.Saturday’s deal is a game-changer in more ways than one. On the one hand, it could prevent further escalation of violence, including the use of WMDs, in Syria. On the other, weapons inspection necessitates a cease-fire agreement between the government and the rebels in many parts of the country, which can only help the case for political dialogue...

When President Barack Obama decided he wanted congressional approval to strike Syria, he received swift—and negative—responses from his staff. National Security Adviser Susan Rice warned he risked undermining his powers as commander in chief.-Wall Street Journal.He did. And he did it for that reason. That is good. Sometimes the greatest power is that which is not exercised. Susan Rice is not good. She has a bone in her brain.

The Spanish Revolution was a workers's social revolution that began during the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 and resulted in the widespread implementation of anarchist more broadly libertarian socialist organizational principles throughout various portions of the country for two to three years, primarily Catalonia, Aragon, Andalusia, and parts of the Levante. Much of Spain's economy was put under worker control; in anarchist strongholds like Catalonia the figure was as high as 75%, but lower in areas with heavy Communist Party influence, as the Soviet Union-controlled party actively tried to crush attempts at worker empowerment. Factories were run through worker committees, agrarian areas became collectivised and run as libertarian communes. Even places like hotels, barber shops, and restaurants were collectivized and managed by their workers.

...

Sam Dolgoff: The Spanish Revolution "came closer to realizing the ideal of the free stateless society on a vast scale than any other revolution in history."

...

George Orwell, Homage to Catalonia:

"I had dropped more or less by chance into the only community of any size in Western Europe where political consciousness and disbelief in capitalism were more normal than their opposites. Up here in Aragon one was among tens of thousands of people, mainly though not entirely of working-class origin, all living at the same level and mingling on terms of equality. In theory it was perfect equality, and even in practice it was not far from it. There is a sense in which it would be true to say that one was experiencing a foretaste of Socialism, by which I mean that the prevailing mental atmosphere was that of Socialism. Many of the normal motives of civilized life—snobbishness, money-grubbing, fear of the boss, etc.—had simply ceased to exist. The ordinary class-division of society had disappeared to an extent that is almost unthinkable in the money-tainted air of England; there was no one there except the peasants and ourselves, and no one owned anyone else as his master."

...

"This was in late December 1936...The Anarchists were still in virtual control of Catalonia and the revolution was still in full swing. To anyone who had been there since the beginning it probably seemed even in December or January that the revolutionary period was ending; but when one came straight from England the aspect of Barcelona was something startling and overwhelming. It was the first time that I had ever been in a town where the working class was in the saddle...Every shop and cafe had an inscription saying that it had been collectivized; even the bootblacks had been collectivized and their boxes painted red and black. Waiters and shop-walkers looked you in the face and treated you as an equal. Servile and even ceremonial forms of speech had temporarily disappeared. Nobody said 'Señor' or 'Don' or even 'Usted'; everyone called everyone else 'Comrade' or 'Thou', and said 'Salud!' instead of 'Buenos días'...There was no unemployment, and the price of living was still extremely low; you saw very few conspicuously destitute people, and no beggars except the gypsies.... Human beings were trying to behave as human beings and not as cogs in the capitalist machine."

...

The most notable aspect of the social revolution was the establishment of a libertarian socialist economy based on coordination through decentralized and horizontal federations of participatory industrial collectives and agrarian communes.

Andrea Oltmares:

"As a Social Democrat I speak here with inner joy and sincere admiration of my experiences in Catalonia. The anti-capitalisttransformation took place here without their having to resort to a dictatorship. The members of the syndicates are their own masters and carry on the production and the distribution of the products of labour under their own management, with the advice of technical experts in whom they have confidence. The enthusiasm of the workers is so great that they scorn any personal advantage and are concerned only for the welfare of all."

Carlo Roselli:

"In three months Catalonia has been able to set up a new social order on the ruins of an ancient system. This is chiefly due to the Anarchists, who have revealed a quite remarkable sense of proportion, realistic understanding, and organising ability...all the revolutionary forces of Catalonia have united in a program of Syndicalist-Socialist character: socialisation of large industry; recognition of the small proprietor, workers' control...Anarcho-Syndicalism, hitherto so despised, has revealed itself as a great constructive force...I am not an Anarchist, but I regard it as my duty to express here my opinion of the Anarchists of Catalonia, who have all too often been represented to the world as a destructive, if not criminal, element. I was with them at the front, in the trenches, and I have learnt to admire them. The Catalonian Anarchists belong to the advance guard of the coming revolution. A new world was born with them, and it is a joy to serve that world."

Saturday, September 14, 2013

President Obama does not have warm personal relationships with other world leaders. Another world leader is Xi Jinping of China. Obama does not have warm relations with Xi. Xi and wife travelled to California to meet Obama. Obama did not have his wife with him. The Chinese were offended.

I have had personal relations with Chinese. I have offended Chinese forreasonsIhavenoFRIGGINGideawhy. I would have known to have my wife, if I had one, which I don't, which is good, in which case I would have known to have a wife-like being, with me if a Chinese man and his wife came to the US to visit me. Which they haven't.

They should be smiling. They done good. American influence was less here. That is good. Minister Lavrov showed that Russian influence can be good. That is good. Assad's control over chemical wmd has been significantly "degraded" without any military intervention. That is the best. Sergei Lavrov is a skilled, agile diplomat. Today is a good day.

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...and to the original bloggers, the pamphleteers of revolutionary America, and to the original blog, Publick Occurrences Both Forreign and Domestick, the first newspaper published in North America on September 25, 1690, it's first and only issue.